The Philadelphia Story

Philadelphia's school librarians have publicized their problems. Now they wonder: Will anyone help?

Staff -- School Library Journal, 1/1/2000

Since October, the Philadelphia school libraries have been featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer, on ABC News, on National Public Radio, and on the front page of Education Week. The only problem is that every broadcast and article talked about the libraries' dismal state: their sparse, aging materials, lack of librarians, and drab facilities.

How did the press unearth this embarrassing story? Actually, the librarians told them. For more than two years, the Association of Philadelphia School Librarians has told anyone who'd listen about the deterioration of their libraries. Now the question facing library advocates is whether all the attention will lead to action.

In October, the city council held a hearing on how to fix the district's libraries. And schools Superintendent David Hornbeck said he'd ask for $6.9 million for libraries in the upcoming budget.

But the new money is iffy at best, because it depends on additional funding from the city or state, neither of which seems willing to provide it. And the librarians say the real culprit in the libraries' decline is school-based management, an approach Hornbeck champions.

Not so, counters Hornbeck's executive assistant, Barbara A. Grant. Hornbeck supports libraries, but in a district as "severely underfunded" as Philadelphia, impossible choices must be made. "You shouldn't have to have administrators making choices between kindergarten teachers and librarians," says Grant.